Business travel

The Geneva motor show

Genevitis

THIS week thousands of motor-industry executives and motoring journalists descended on Geneva for the motor show, held incongruously in one of Europe's smallest car markets in a country more famous for watches then wheel spin. Once a gentle affair in a couple of halls at the exhibition centre next to the airport, it has now grown so large that cars heading there face gridlock on the roads from the city centre. Many visitors never see the fine prospect of the lake and its iconic water spout, because they cannot get hotel rooms in town. Car companies block-book expensive suites for their bosses on an annual basis, but minions and journalists find they have to go as far away as Lausanne to get a room.

The happy hoteliers of John Calvin's town rub their hands at this influx. Prices for a distinctly ordinary town-centre room can be as high as SFr395 ($425), while the grand hotels along the lake and by the Rhone charge as much as SFr650-900 for standard rooms. It's that peak demand-during-trade-show thing that hits everything from the Frankfurt book fair to the Hanover trade fair or the Paris fashion show—to the annoyance of all but hoteliers.

In Geneva, restaurants and taxi drivers join in too. A seven-minute ride from the airport to the nearby Hotel InterContinental—a grand affair on the hill at the edge of downtown Geneva—sets you back over SFr20, while an onward trip to the downtown banking district on the other side of the Rhone costs SFr45. There are very few bars outside the grand hotels, and even they charge about SFr7.5 for a pint of lager. A two-course meal with half a bottle of wine in a (rare) brasserie will set you back about SFr100. But there is one bit of good news for motorists: should they deign to take public transport, they will find Geneva hotels often give out free travel passes for the city's excellent trams and buses. These have the added advantage of gliding in their dedicated lanes past the gridlocked chauffeur-driven Mercs and taxis.

As a product of America's fine public school system, I was amazed to find that Sweden and Switzerland were indeed two different places. To prove it to myself, I had to take a trip to Zurich and yes, it's true. But the trip included an added bonus when I traveled next door to Austria to see some kangeroos. My grade school (unionized
and tenured) teacher had it right, "Without geography, we'd all be nowhere".

MoJos has some basis for his/her rant judging by the experience of my wife, who when asked (in the early 1970s) in our local Manhattan butchers shop where she came from replied "Switzerland". The Butcher came back with "Hey we love your accent, do you live in Stockholm?"

As someone clever once said " God gave the Americans wars as a way of learning geography"